Union Update January 6, 2023

Norse Cabin Crew,

This Union update will discuss the following issues:

1.      Wet lease flights—who, what, where?

2.      Security Search Agreement

3.      Last day to apply to Union Committees

4.      Meeting with Management on the 10th

5.      AFA Membership and Dues Check Off Reminder

6.      Union Officer Elections

7.      Zoom meeting Jan 11th

1)      Wet lease flights—who, what, where?

Many of you have questions about our wet lease agreement with TUI Group and what it means for the US crew. We asked Management to send the crew an update of what the wet lease agreement means for Norse and Kjetil Risan sent out a “short status update” on December 30th. In the update, Kjetil Risan told us that all crew will get more charter flying and they may position some US crew to Europe. He stated that “we don’t have the resources to fly any FLL crews to Europe” and this is because FLL is currently the base with the most amount of crew on leave and has the highest number of sick calls. Because there is a need for more crew to work wet lease flights, all crew on leave have been recalled. Once all US crew are back from leave, it is expected that FLL and JFK bases will be utilized for wet lease flights out of the Caribbean due to the US crew bases being geographically close to Caribbean destinations. One of the important aspects of the wet lease operation is the different service concept (essentially TUI service) and the need for crews to perform security checks.

2)      Security Search Agreement

As a Union, the AFA is against the concept of performing work that is not traditionally our own. This is why we negotiated the following language into our Scope Agreement, “Unless approved by the Union, a CCM shall not be required to perform work normally assigned to other workers including but not limited to aircraft cleaners, caterers, and handling agents.” When the Company told us that cabin crew security checks were a part of the wet-lease agreement with TUI, we told them that the US crew want to work the wet-lease flights but that the security checks must be negotiated with the Union because we consider security checks as work normally performed by other employees. The AFA drafted an agreement with all of our “demands” and to the Company’s credit, they agreed to all of them and immediately signed off on the agreement. The agreement includes pay for performing extra work, but also several other protections for the crew members including paid training, proper equipment and safeguards, ample time to perform the checks, time to freshen up afterwards, and provisions for uniform cleaning and replacement if necessary. The agreement is temporary (until June 30th) with the option to renew and is limited only to wet-lease flights. It is recommended that all of you read and understand the agreement as it is considered a part of our CBA until it expires. A copy of the SECURITY SEARCH AGREEMENT can be VIEWED HERE.

3)      Last day to apply to Union Committees

The last day to apply to the Uniform, Scheduling, and Grievance Committee is tomorrow (Saturday, January 7th) at 2359 EST. Please send a letter of interest with references to [email protected] and refer to the previous newsletter sent on 12/28 for more detailed information.

4)      Meeting with Management on the 10th

The Union will be meeting with Norse Management on Tuesday, January 10th to discuss several important issues including optimal staffing levels so crew can rely on Norse to be their PRIMARY source of income and the lack of reciprocal jumpseat agreements. There are several other issues to discuss that we will update everyone with after the meeting is concluded. Feel free to email us with other urgent issues that you strongly feel should be brought up to Management.
 

5)      AFA Membership and Dues Check Off Reminder

If you are one of the few people who did not fill out an AFA Membership Application and Dues Check Off Form, you MUST fill both forms out as soon as possible. If you do not fill out both forms, you will be responsible for sending in your union dues manually, through the mail with a check to avoid delinquency. You do not want to start off delinquent in your union dues as it has the ability to affect your future employment with Norse. As discussed multiple times in person and in other communications ALL Norse CCMs are required to pay dues and it is a condition of your future employment with Norse.

6)      Union Officer Elections

One of the most important events for our Union is now upon us. As required by the AFA Constitution, nominations for new Union Officers have been mailed out TODAY (January 6th). Polls will open on January 11th and will close on January 31st. It is important that you nominate the most effective people to lead our Union for the next few years to come. I (Valentin) will not be running again for Union President as I want other people to step up and be involved in growing our union influence here at Norse. The following positions up for election are: President, Vice President, and Secretary-Treasurer. Union officers have many important responsibilities as outlined in our AFA Constitution including choosing Union Committee Members. Training is provided to all new Union Officers so please do not let lack of experience prevent you from stepping up to participate in this union election.  If you are interested in learning more about the Union Officer positions up for election, please attend the next Zoom meeting on January 11th.
 

7)      Zoom meeting Jan 11th

We will hold a Zoom update on Wednesday January 11th at 1200 EST. We will provide an update on our meeting with management as well as answer any others questions you have. We will be joined on the call by AFA International Staff Representative Guy Bosworth 1230 who will answer questions about the AFA elections for new Union Officers. The link to the call is: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82862891977?pwd=cWpmdXJTclVmZkRjNEJCUHo1WE1wdz09

I hope to see everyone at the Zoom meeting on Wednesday!

Valentin

[email protected]